Agent Rhode Island: Story Time
by TyForestWrites2
Summary: (Book 8) The stories throughout space are many... But how will Rhode fit into them?(Hints of Agent Carolina x OC)(Hints of past Agent North x OC)(Hints of Agent Washington x OC)(Hints of Agent Ohio x OC)
1. Prologue: Calling 555-VICK

**Prologue: Calling 555-VICK**

In the vast emptiness of space, a small object was in the distance. It was too far away to see, but a voice spoke.

"Space. It's like... really, really, really big, dude. And it's got all sorts of stuff in it too! I'm talking about aliens, humans, canyons, spaceships... those little peppers wrapped in bacon stuff, which is, OOH, it's satisfying! Muy delicioso, dude.

"Yup! There's lots of stuff in space, amigo. But there's even more stories, and I've heard them all. My name is Vic! 555-V-I-C-K!"

The object came into view. It was somewhat rectangular.

"And I can open the window to a galaxy full of stories you never even knew existed."

The object was a glass window.

"See what I did there? That was a segway! We were talking about windows. Window shows up! Very intriguing. Now! We're almost to the good part.

"Some stories are funny! Some stories are not. Some might be a little weird and some might be about folks you've never even heard of.

"The whole Red vs. Blueniverse is about ready to bust open, compadre! Come with me... and let me be your guide."

The window began to open, with white light beginning to pour out... Then the window was smashed to pieces by a spaceship. On board, various Freelancers stumbled and shouted out at the impact and sound.

Carolina: WHAT THE CRAP WAS THAT?!

Rhode: Was that glass I heard shatter?!

North: I think it was a... window?

Wyoming: Knock knock!

South: He said window. Not door.

York: A window? Just on its own? I mean, not attached to anything?

479er: What the crap's a window doing in the middle of space?!

Wash: I DON'T KNOW!!! JUST KEEP FLYING!!!

The argument/conversation was cut short by other ships flying after it, shooting at them.

 **XXX**

 **I know that all of the stories they show in this season may not pertain to Rhode, but I'm gonna make this anyway. Till next time guys!**

 **XXX**

CRASH!!! The Reds and Blues' ship crashed into something.

"What the heck was that?!" Sarge exclaimed.

"That was probably the logo," Caboose answered.

"Hey!" Rhode scolded, "Breaking the fourth wall is my thing!"

"What?" Carolina asked.

"Nothing."


	2. Chapter 1: Room Zero

**Chapter 1: Room Zero**

In an alien compound on some planet nobody cares about, four soldiers walked through a hallway, two of them arguing.

"I think we're going the wrong way."

"How would you know? You've never even been here before."

"You've never been here before, either!"

"Well, I'm not the one telling people they're going the wrong way."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

A new voice spoke, "Let's all shut up! How about that?"

"Oh just can it, Rhode."

The four stopped as the fourth soldier, Simmons, brought out a tablet.

"Simmons," Rhode asked, "What does that thing say? Where are they holding Sarge and Tex prisoner?"

Simmons' device showed a long illuminated hallway, with a sergeant and cowboy hat icons next to the 'prison'.

"Says here section 1,157," Simmons answered.

"What section are we in now?" Church asked.

The tablet panned out to show multiple rooms around their area.

"Umm, section 0."

"Aw, crap," Grif groaned, "That's like a million sections away!"

"We have to fight our way through this whole place?" Church complained, "They'll be dead by then!"

"Yeah," Rhode agreed, "That's too much, even for me."

"Maybe not," Simmons deduced, "You see this?"

Simmons pointed to a holographic, circular tunnel, "It says that access tunnel cuts right into the mountain. It looks like a pretty straight run... but it's loaded with guards."

"How long is it?" Church asked.

"Uh... Whoa... Almost a kilometer."

"Like I said," Rhode said, "Too much."

"So, our choice is," Grif concluded, "A bunch of small rooms filled with a ton of enemies, or one long room filled with a ton of enemies. Or we could give up! I say we give up."

Church took the tablet from Simmons as he looked at Grif and Church began typing on it.

"Grif, we can't stop now!" Simmons argued, "We're only in the first room!"

"No, according to what you said, we're not even in the first room! We're in room 0. But it's okay Simmons, we did our best. No one could possibly ask any more of us."

"Hate to admit it," Rhode said, "He's got a point."

"I got an idea," Church said, "Simmons, Rhode..."

Church, Rhode, and Simmons started secretly whispering a plan to each other while Grif watched suspiciously.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Grif asked, "That doesn't sound like surrendering. Let me see."

Grif approached them, but Simmons raised a hand quickly to stop him.

"Get away Grif, we're working here!"

"Yeah, c'mon!" Church said, "Beat it!"

"Trust me," Rhode said, "You wouldn't be interested."

Grif started to walk over to a door, with a holographic lock, "Whatever. I don't wanna see anyways. 'Oh look at me, I'm Simmons! I have a computer and I don't have to show it to anybody! I just got to push all the buttons!'"

While saying this, Grif randomly started pushing buttons on the lock, and the door opened, revealing a room filled with Grunts, who looked up at him.

"Ummm..."

"What is that noise?" Rhode asked.

"How do I shut this door?"

The Grunts picked up their weapons. They attacked and Simmons, Grif, Rhode, and Church ran down the hall, and got behind cover.

"Run!!" Simmons screamed.

"Aaaah!!" Grif yelled.

"Where the crap did they come from!?"

The four of them start firing at the Grunts.

"WHAT THE CRAP!?" Church yelled.

"They're blocking our way to the access tunnel!" Rhode said.

"AW, COME ON!" Church turned to Simmons, "Simmons, rocket launcher, now!

"Comin' up!"

Simmons pulled out the Rocket Launcher and Grif looked at the gun.

"You're not gonna kill them all with that!" he argued.

Church placed a rope in the Rocket Launcher's barrel, "We don't need to! This is a guided rocket!"

"Wait," Rhode said, "We're going through with that plan?!"

"Aim for the tunnel, Simmons!"

"I'm on it!" Simmons replied.

Simmons stepped out from his cover, with the Rocket Launcher.

"Fire in the hole!" Simmons fires the rocket, it sailing past the Grunts and into the tunnel.

The pile of rope began to get shorter and shorter as it traveled through the tunnel.

"Alright," Church said as he tied the top around his waist, "Use the map to guide me. Don't let me hit anything! ...And, you know, explode."

"What the heck are you doing?!" Grif asked.

"I, uh, I'm suddenly having second thoughts."

"I can't believe we had a first thought," Rhode muttered.

"Yeah. Hey Grif? In case I forget to say it later: ow."

Church was pulled viciously away toward the access tunnel, hitting a Grunt on the way, whilst screaming.

Grif grinned, "Ha, ha, ha! Yes! Finally a stupid plan where someone's gonna get killed and it's not me!"

 **XXX**

In the access tunnel, the rocket was still going, Church not too far behind while still screaming.

 **XXX**

Back with our... *cough*cough* heroes...

"Oh my God, there's like a million of these things!" Grif yelled.

"Well, freakin' shoot them then!" Simmons yelled back.

 **XXX**

Meanwhile, Church, still screaming, flew out of the access tunnel, hitting a Jackal in the back of the head.

 **XXX**

Back to Rhode, where he headshotted a few more Grunts.

"Ha ha!" he said, "Is that your best?"

He heard a loud thud behind him. He slowly turned around and saw a giant Brute, easily two times taller than him. Rhode stared at him for a second before waving a nervous hello.

"I hate my stupid m-"

Before he could even finish the sentence, the Brute grabbed him and began smashing him around in a way similar to that of Hulk smashing Loki.

The Grunts finally ran out of ammo and charged the remaining two Reds.

"Uh, Simmons," Grif said nervously, "They're getting closer!"

A Grunt launched himself at Grif, pummeling him to the ground.

"Oww! Help! Get them off me!"

"Help yourself," Simmons replied, "They aren't that tough!"

A Grunt then punched Simmons right in the groin, and knocked his tablet away.

"Ow! Son of a-"

"Whatever you're doing back there, stop doing it!" Church called over the radio, "Or do it straighter! Please!"

Simmons tried to knock the Grunts away with his Rocket Launcher, "Take that, you little jerks!"

A Grunt dived on Simmons, making him fall to the ground.

 **XXX**

Back with Church, as the rocket flied into a large tunnel that went straight up, filled with Covenant soldiers. Two Jackals watched as the rocket flew past them, and then Church flew past. The Jackals and many other Covenant soldiers started shooting at Church.

"Uhh, okay guys? Yeah, that's too high. Guys? That's too high, guys! Guys?!"

 **XXX**

Back with the others, Rhode was still getting smacked around, and Grif and Simmons had a Grunt jumping on them.

Church looked up and saw the ceiling he was about to crash into, "Oh man... This is gonna-"

He hit the ceiling, "huuuuuuuuuurt!!!!"

 **XXX**

"SON OF A-OW!!!"

Church woke up in the familiar white void that he found himself in every time a plan went wrong. The void of the Epsilon Unit.

"How many times?!" he complained, "How many times do I have to relive this bullcrap?!"

Suddenly another Church appeared, like a hologram. For the sake of all you readers, this is Epsilon.

"Alright, you big baby," Epsilon said, "Calm down."

"Hey, up yours, man," Church replied angrily, "You don't know me!"

"Actually, moron, I do," Epsilon retorted, "I'm you."

"I know you know! It's a figure of speech! Huh, who's the moron now?!"

"Still you."

Church looked down, then punched Epsilon, which hurt both of them, and they staggered back, holding their jaws.

"Ow!" they both cried.

"Man, I hit hard!" Church complained.

"Or we just have a glass jaw," Epsilon replied as they stood up and faced each other, "So, what did we learn this time?"

Church sighed, "Antagonizing the aliens, is not a surefire way to keep Tex in Blood Gulch."

"Yeah, you know, I really thought you would have figured that out the first time it didn't work."

"Don't you mean we?"

"Don't freaking sass me."

Church groaned and fell to the ground on his back.

"Hey," Epsilon scolded, "We knew what we were getting into when we started this. Chasing after Tex in here, won't be easy. We can try to change things, but it's entirely possible that we're still gonna relive our memories, over, and over, and over, and ove-"

"Okay," Church gave a dismissive wave, "I get it!"

Epsilon sighed, "I guess it's time for a new iteration. Any bright ideas this time around?"

Church sat up thoughtfully, "What if we killed Caboose?"

"How would that help?"

Church shrugged, "It would make me feel a lot better."

"...Huh. Good point."

Church disappeared and Epsilon created Blood Gulch around him and stood atop Blue Base. He spawned a Sniper Rifle in the air and grabbed it as it dropped down.

"Alright," he said, "Let's get this started. Hey Tucker! I think the Reds just got a delivery!"

 **XXX**

 **And that concludes Season 14 Episode 1! Next chapter, I'll be covering something original. Remember Zona and Penny? Time to see what happened to them. Till next time guys!**


	3. Chapter 2: Agents on the Run

**Chapter 2: Agents on the Run**

"So..." Vic said, "Remember Agents Arizona and Pennsylvania? Or Zona and Penny, as they liked to be called? Nice girls, right? Until they supposedly died when that skyscraper crashed down. Emphasis on 'supposedly'."

 **XXX**

"Come on Penny," Zona groaned, "Get on!"

"No way!! You know how much planes terrify me!!"

"How did you stay calm when we flew to different missions then?"

"479er was a professional pilot! _We_ are not professional."

"...Touché."

Zona and Penny had just an hour ago, left the ruins of the once huge skyscraper. Once they saw the giant laser burst through the middle of the room, they got the heck out of there. Soon enough, the building crashed down and the two were coughing up dust.

Seeing as that they didn't get any warning sign whatsoever, it didn't take long for the two to realize the Project just tried to kill them. They may have been bubbly, but they weren't dumb. They crushed the life chips that were in their armor and found their way to to a nearby docking station.

But Penny was having a... difficult time as she remembered she had a small fear of flying. And Zona was having an even more difficult time trying to keep her best friend on the Pelican.

"Penny! We won't be in the air for that long! Just get on!"

Penny hesitated, "...Promise?"

"Promise. Now get on!"

Zona grabbed Penny's arm and pulled her on board. They shut the door and just missed a green armored figure stagger into the bay...

"Well," Zona smirked as they took off, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Penny was currently clutching the handle bars on her seat for dear life, "I wish North were here... He knows how to calm me down..."

"You better be glad Rhode's not here to hear you say that," Zona grinned, "He would never let you hear the end of it."

"Shut up! It's not like that!"

"Rhode says the same thing about him and Carolina!"

"Up yours!"

They exited the atmosphere and Zona set the plane on autopilot, "So... now what?"

Penny calmed down a bit, knowing that the Pelican itself was a professional, "Don't know. Wander around the galaxy? Go back home? Not really sure."

"Well..." Zona sat down and folded her hands behind her head, "I guess we just drift until we can think of something."

 **XXX**

And drift they did. For a good three hours, the two just flew through space, thinking or just singing '100 Duel Monsters Cards on the Wall'. But even they were getting sick of that at this point.

Finally, they just laid down on random spots on the floor and got some shuteye. They awoke an hour later as their ship suddenly stopped.

"What the crap was that?!" Zona asked, a little irritated that her sleep was interrupted.

"Felt like we hit something," Penny said as she looked out the window, "But I don't see anything."

The ship moved again, but it was going up instead of forward. Then Zona looked out the window.

"Um... Penny?"

They both saw a giant purple ship with a hole in the bottom. The Pelican was being pulled up towards that hole.

"ALIENS!!!" Penny panicked, "We're gonna die!!!"

"Calm down!" Zona scolded, resisting the urge to slap her out of it, "We just need a plan. Remember, they can't kill both of us."

"Why can't they kill both of us?"

"...Huh. Good point."

Zona then devised a 'foolproof' plan. Once the door opened and they saw aliens, they'd start shooting. Finally, the Pelican came to a stop and the two whipped out their guns.

"What if their waiting to kill us right now?!" Penny muttered, on the verge of bailing.

"Probably are."

"What if this plan doesn't work?!"

"Probably won't."

"Oh... What would Tenn say at a time like this?"

"Shut up Penny."

"Yeah, probably."

The door opened. The two quickly raised their guns, fingers ready to squeeze the triggers. What they saw on the other side was not what they expected.

There were more armored soldiers like them. There were six of them, all in red or orange armor. All of the soldiers lowered their weapons in shock.

"Well..." Penny said at last, "This is awkward."

"Well, look what we have here," the guy in the middle, who was wearing red and gold armor, said, "Looks like we found ourselves some dirty Blues."

"Great," Penny mumbled to Zona, "Simulation Troopers."

"I got that," Zona hissed back, "Don't hurt them. They have no idea what they're getting into."

Penny nodded. She then smirked under her helmet and disappeared. She reappeared a few yards behind them and just watched the Reds panic. While they did, Zona took off and began climbing the wall.

"What the crap is this?!" the Red with a Scout helmet yelped.

"Just shoot 'em!" the red and gold one ordered.

One of the bigger guys turned his gun on Penny, "Eep!"

She teleported as soon as he started firing. She appeared right above Zona, who caught her as she fell.

"Can we go back against the 'don't hurt them' plan?" Penny asked, "Because honestly, that's the only way we're getting out of here."

"Okay," Zona replied, "We can hurt them. Just don't kill them."

"That's something I can do!"

Penny let go and teleported. She appeared behind the big guy who had shot at her earlier and knocked him out with a swift blow to the head.

Zona dodged a few more bullets and growled, "Where's Rhode when you need him?"

She continued climbing until she was nearly upside down. Then she jumped and drop kicked the guy with the Scout helmet, and punched the guy with the EOD helmet. Now there was only the one with the Mark VI helmet and the one with the CQB helmet.

The two fired at the former Agents, but, being the awesome people they were, Zona and Penny dodged the bullets and ran at them. Penny grabbed CQB's gun and basked him in the stomach with it while Zona kicked Mark VI's out of his hand and kicked him in the face.

Needless to say, Penny and Zona won their fight.

"That was a bit brutal," Zona admitted, "But that was awesome!"

"You said it!" Penny agreed and they high-fived.

The two quickly got back on their ship and took off into the unknown. While they did, all the Reds woke up.

"Ugh... Colonel?" Morgan asked, "Did we just get beat up by two girls?"

"Never speak of this again?" Sue suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Drag groaned.

"Hey," Santos said, "Can I get a wine bar now?"

"Really Santos?" Turf asked, "I've told you no a thousand times now! And this is hardly the time to discuss this!!"

Peake just stayed quiet.

 **XXX**

"Welp," Zona said, "That was weird."

"You said it," Penny agreed, "But hey! I was in the mood for a good butt-kicking!"

They then passed another Pelican, barely seeing the driver.

"Wait," Zona squinted, "Was that... Rhode?"

"Looked like it," Penny said, "But why would he be out here?"

"Good question. Or maybe it wasn't him and we're just seeing things."

"Probably. After all, why would he leave Carolina?"

"Probably the same reason you left without North."

"Will you shut up about that?! What about you and-"

Zona clamped Penny's mouth shut, "Not. One. Word. Understood?"

Penny nodded nervously.

"Good. Now let's go!"

And they flew through space, wondering just how many crazy adventures they were about to get into.

 **XXX**

 **And it's done! Oh man, I surprisingly had a lot of difficulty writing this. I guess I just ran out of ideas for this. Till next time guys!**


	4. Chapter 3: Bounty Hunters Part 1

**Chapter 3: Bounty Hunters Part 1**

"Hey, remember that alternate universe Rhode was in?" Vic asked, "You know, where the Director didn't try to kill him, and Rhode's relationship with Carolina skyrocketed? Well, what if I told you that something different happened in that universe when Rhode was still a homeless Ryan Bellator? That he got into a very... interesting mess."

 **XXX**

Ryan was sleeping against a trash can in an alley next to a club when he was woken up by a slam and shouting.

"YOU SAID COMMS WERE USELESS!!!"

"I meant downstairs!!"

"USELESS!!!"

Ryan peeked his head out and saw two figures. He couldn't make out details, but one was a scrawny guy and the other was well-built. They both had guns and a human-sized bag.

"That does not mean remove your earpiece!!" the big guy scolded in a menacing voice.

"Well I'm sorry I couldn't read that broken brain of yours and suddenly know that you actually meant the opposite of what you freaking said!"

The two were interrupted by two gunshots. Ryan flinched and saw a thug fall to the ground, two bullet wounds in him. Ryan then saw a man in black behind where the thug once stood. He wasn't as bulky as the bigger guy, but definitely more so than the smaller one. If anything, he reminded Ryan of Ironwood from RWBY.

"Hey Siris," Scrawny said casually.

"Hey?" Siris replied, dumbfounded, "That's all you've got, hey? Why weren't you on comms?"

"That is..." Scrawny pointed to Bulky, "Entirely his fault."

Bulky scowled, "Don't you-"

"Stop. If you want me out here doing recon then you need to listen to me when I talk to you," Siris gestured to Scrawny, "Him I expected this from but you... we're supposed to be partners. Partners communicate."

Bulky gave a sigh, "Right."

Then they both turned to Scrawny, who exclaimed, "I'm sorry, okay. Now can we please get this jerk in the car and away from the scene?"

Siris sighed, "Yeah, let's go."

They all stopped in their tracks when they heard a loud crash. They turned, guns raised as they saw Ryan there, a collapsed garbage can beside him. Ryan panicked and tried to run, but only got two steps in before tripping and falling to the ground.

The three mercs looked at each other before walking over to the cowering Ryan, who was just waiting for death at this point. Wasn't he surprised when Siris kneeled down and spoke to him.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Siris asked.

Ryan looked at him, a bit startled, "Um... Yeah... I'm fine..."

"Oh jeez," Scrawny sighed as he looked at Siris, "I know that look."

"Felix..." Siris said, "Be quiet."

Felix huffed and Siris turned back to Ryan, "So kid, got a name?"

"R-Ryan," Ryan answered, "Ryan Bellator."

"Bellator?" Bulky spoke up, "As in... the Bellator family?"

"Y-yeah," Ryan responded.

"So this is where you've been," Siris said, "Your mansion burned down and all the money in your family's bank account vanished. Leaving you homeless."

Ryan just nodded. Siris got up and offered a hand. Ryan looked at Siris with a cautious expression on his face. After a few seconds, he took the hand and Siris helped him up.

"Well Ryan," Siris said, "How would you like to join us?"

"Siris," Bulky warned, "Are you sure?"

"Yes Locus, I'm sure," Siris said as Ryan gained a confused look.

Locus nodded and Felix rolled his eyes.

"W-wait," Ryan spoke, "Join what?"

"You see, Ryan," Siris explained, "We're bounty hunters. We turn people in to get cash. Right now..."

Siris pointed to the bag, "He's our paycheck. No doubt you can get something out of what we get."

Felix looked ready to argue, but Locus stopped him.

"How good are you at fighting?" Siris asked.

"Well..." Ryan answered, "My parents trained me in self-defense all my life, as well as gunplay. I guess you could say I'm a good shot."

Siris smiled, "That's good. So, how about it?"

Ryan thought it over a bit, "Well... No offense, but bounty hunting isn't really what I want to do... But at the same time, I need some money. Badly."

Siris considered that, "How about this: You can join us temporarily. It doesn't have to be full time. Heck, after the next mission we do, you can call it quits. What do you say?"

Ryan thought about that, "...You know what? Sure. Why not?"

Siris grinned and they shook hands. Felix groaned.

"Great," he said, "More people here, less money for me."

"Come on," Siris said, grabbing the bodybag, "Let's go."

 _To be continued..._

 **XXX**

 **Ohhhh yeah. I'm doing this. Till next time guys!**


	5. Chapter 4: Bounty Hunters Part 2

**Chapter 4: Bounty Hunters Part 2**

 **(Author's Note: Behold. One section of this chapter is the entire reason I rated this story M.)**

Despite the promise of loads of cash, things didn't go well for Ryan, or really any of them for that matter. They pulled the car over to an empty parking lot, and Siris was quick at showing how frustrated he was by cursing and kicking a can into the air.

Gabriel Lozano, the guy in the body bag, was the bounty they were going to turn in for big cash. But as they were driving, his criminal record just disappeared without a trace. So, according to police logic, they had just kidnapped an innocent man.

"They have someone inside the IPD," Locus reasoned.

"No, that's not possible," Siris said.

"Every police force has bad cops," Felix agreed with Locus, "Even the big ones."

"Especially the big ones," Ryan nodded.

"Bad cops?" Siris exclaimed, "They erased his record. As far as they're concerned we've got an innocent man tied up in our trunk. The crap we supposed to do with that?"

"And we still need to cover equipment costs for the mission," Locus sighed.

Siris let out another yell of anger, kicking the car, denting it, "Great. That's just great."

Felix stood up, an idea forming, "I know how we make our money."

"Really?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, "Because I could take anything at this point."

"I don't care what his record says," Felix continued, "Gabriel is not an innocent man. But he is the son of one of the wealthiest men in this city. And we have him in our trunk."

Ryan's eyes widened, "You aren't seriously thinking-"

"No," Siris stated.

"Siris-" Felix tried.

"We are not crooks!"

"Siris-"

"Ransom? Are you kidding me? That's what you're suggesting, right? You wanna hold this kid for ransom?"

"Think about the money."

"The three, now four, of us set out to stop criminals. We do good, we get paid, everybody wins. Ransom makes us no better than the guys we're trying to take down!"

"I'm already homeless dude," Ryan glared, "Arrested for ransom is one of the last things I need."

"Philosophically speaking, I see what you're saying," Felix admitting, "I do. But you're not thinking about this pragmatically. You're the one that brought us together. You saw something in us that we didn't, and you saw the good we could do with our talents. But what you don't see is that Gabriel Lozano is a bad person. His father Ruben is a very bad person that pays bad people to do bad things. We hold his son ransom for, screw it, let's say double the bounty, and we are taking money away from Lozano. We are hurting him financially. You see the logic here? We're still helping the city. Ruben Lozano takes a major hit, and we reunite a family."

Locus spoke up, "It's likely Ruben would become more protective of his son once he's back. Less men causing trouble on the streets, less income to keep those men happy, it could yield better results than the original mission."

"As much as I don't like the idea," Ryan conceded, "They have a point."

Siris thought for a minute before sighing in defeat, "Alright... So who wants to make the call?"

 **XXX**

After going to an abandoned quarry, they went inside the building, tied Gabriel up to a chair, and Felix called. After a bit, all he got was the answering machine. He slammed his phone on the table in frustration.

"Maybe he's not home," Ryan joked.

"Very funny," Felix glared.

But after a few seconds, Felix's phone began to get a call.

Felix answered, "Hello?"

 **(A/N: WARNING. THE FOLLOWING CONVERSATION HAS VERY OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE. Why did I keep it in? Because this scene just isn't as chilling without it.)**

 _-Where is my son?-_

Felix smirked, set the phone to speaker, and began talking in a energetic, douchey way, "Mr. Lozano! I'm pleased to inform you that Gabriel is here with us safe and sound."

 _-Should he not be in the custody of the police?-_

"Well that's funny," Felix chuckled, "You see it turns out that your son is completely innocent! Must have been some sort of mixup at IPD. It's an honest mistake."

 _-Hmm. I see. Then what, may I ask, are you planning to do with him?-_

Felix laughed like a crazy person, causing Siris, Ryan, and Locus to share concerned glances

"Oh, Mr. Lozano I can promise you that we have all sorts of plans involving your son, but what ultimately happens to him is entirely dependent upon the actions you take within the next few minutes. See we went through a lot of trouble apprehending young Gabriel, so if you want him back you will transfer four million credits to a specified bank account. Once the payment has been received, we will provide you with Gabriel's location, and the two of you can move on with your lives. I know this must be difficult for you, Mr. Lozano, but please know that if your payment is not recieved before sunrise, these will be the last words you hear from your son."

Felix pulled the tape off of Gabriel's mouth, and the kid started begging, "Oh! Dad, just please do what they want! Just fucking pay them! Please just-"

Felix prodded Gabriel's head with a pistol, "Oh God..."

"So, Mr. Lozano," Felix grinned, "I suggest you think very carefully about the-"

 _-You're a fucking idiot.-_

Ryan felt a chill go down his spine. Felix turned to his three teammates, who all shrugged.

"I'm... sorry?" Felix asked, confused.

 _-No you're not. But I'm going to make you fucking sorry. I'm going to make you wish you never set foot inside my fucking nightclub, you stupid ratfaced shit!-_

Felix's face hardened, "Mr. Lozano, I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation."

Felix then shot Gabriel in the leg, who screamed and cried loudly. Ryan jumped when the shot rang out.

"Hey!" Siris yelled.

But Felix motioned for Siris to stop, "Shut him up."

"GAAAHHHH!!!" Gabriel screamed, "HE SHOT ME!!! HE, HE FUCKING SHOT ME!!!"

Locus walked over and put a hand over Gabriel's mouth to muffle the screaming.

"Four million credits, or your son is dead!" Felix pressured.

 _-You think I give a shit about my son?-_

Everyone looked surprised, including Gabriel, whose screaming died down into a confused whimper. Ryan's spine received even more chills, afraid of where this was going.

 _-My son is the worst thing I have ever brought into this world. A fucking disgrace. He couldn't even run the nightclub I gave him. He is a parasite that has done nothing but piss away my fortune. If you want the truth, killing him would be doing me a favor. Unfortunately, this does not excuse you of the damage you have already done.-_

Ryan grimaced. How could anyone treat their own child like that? Sure, Ryan's dad wasn't around too often, but at least he showed that he cared.

 _-I have a reputation to uphold. If word got out that two bounty hunters killed my men, shot up my property, and kidnapped my son, all without consequence, that would most certainly be a sign of weakness. Which is why I am personally going to bash your skulls open and feed you to my dogs. Do we understand one another, or have you not yet grasped the_ gravity _of the situation?-_

Ryan couldn't stop the shiver that ran across his body as he heard Ruben mocking Felix's earlier words.

Felix sneered, "You're full of shit, Lozano. And now your kid costs five million."

Siris silently reacted, as if he's asking Felix what the heck he was doing. Felix motioned for him to calm down. But Ryan couldn't help but agree with Siris. What the heck was Felix doing?!

 _-...Far too bold. It's obvious I've worked in this world longer than you have, boy. You're a bad liar. But so you know that I'm not bluffing, I can tell you that the bounty hunters, Locus and Felix, will not live to see the sunrise.-_

Locus and Felix exchanged worried glances. Ryan and Siris looked at each other, now genuinely a bit frightened.

 _-Oh that's right. I know your aliases. I know your faces, and your scars. I know you're at the abandoned quarry outside of town.-_

The four of them panicked. Locus grabbed the pistol, and he and Siris rush to look out the window. Ryan stood frozen, terrified.

 _-What I want you to know is that I already have more than enough information to find you in this city, and if you somehow manage to slip away, I will find the people_ you _know, the people_ you _love, and I will make them suffer in your place.-_

At this, Siris panicked even further, grabbing the phone from Felix, "Stop! Wait wait wait wait stop! Look, take your fucking kid, alright? No ransom, no money, just take him and you'll never see us again."

 _-...I'll be seeing you soon, gentlemen.-_

And the call ended. Everyone stood frozen in place for a few silent moments.

Finally Siris said, "No... NO!!!"

Siris threw the phone to the ground, shattering it. And Felix wasted no time blaming someone else, pointing at Locus.

"You botched the cameras, didn't you?" Felix glared.

"Cameras were down," Locus insisted.

"Then how does he know our names, Ortez!?" Felix yelled, "How does he know what we freaking look like?!"

"How does he know we're here?" Ryan asked.

Gabriel chose that moment to speak up and sniffed, "I got a chip... In my neck... I got a, a GPS chip. My dad put it there. And there was a girl under my desk..."

"Under your..." Felix realized what he meant and lost it, "Oh. Oh, oh that is perfect!! Classy too!!"

Grabriel cried, "Can't believe...he said that..."

"I have to call Megan," Siris breathed.

"You're not doing anything, Wu," Felix argued.

"She could be in danger," Siris insisted.

"Well we are all in danger, until we sort this out!!"

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, causing all of them to jump and turn. They saw that Locus had shot Gabriel in the head, killing him. He then walked past them and out the door.

"Codenames."

 _To be continued..._

 **XXX**

 **Yeah, I didn't censor that phone call. I don't know why, but when someone's cursing at you while threatening you seems a lot scarier than a censored version. Till next time guys!**


	6. Chapter 5: Bounty Hunters Part 3

**Chapter 5: Bounty Hunters Part 3**

In the abandoned quarry a few minutes later, the four men were preparing for battle. Siris inspected his sniper rifle, while Locus parked a bulldozer off to the side.

"We're good on the north and south," Locus informed them, "I had enough extra limestone to make a bottleneck at the east end."

"Good," Siris replied.

"Dynamite?"

"In the crate," Ryan said.

"Good."

"Welp," Felix said, "Our trusty arms dealer isn't returning my calls, so he's either high or fully aware of how screwed we are. On the bright side there's a pileup on 35, so that'll buy us some time. You know, in case we just wanna kill ourselves."

"I'm a lot of things," Ryan grimaced at the suggestion, "Suicide victim is not one of them."

"We have enough firepower," Locus glared at Felix, "We also have the cliff to our backs, and a full understanding of the terrain. We have survived worse. But if you waste a single one of our rounds on yourself, I will be very unhappy."

"...Why does it always gotta be about you?" Felix asked as Locus walked away.

Felix then turned to Ryan, who was inspecting a battle rifle, "Hey, um, thanks. You didn't have to stay and help. You can still back out if you want to."

"It's fine," Ryan shrugged off, looking through the scope of the gun, "I got nothing better to do. If I'm gonna die, I might as well go out fighting. I just hope my sharpshooting hasn't gotten rusty..."

Felix nodded and turned to Siris, "Wu, you wanna give me a hand? Hey Wu! Ammo?"

Siris finally looked up, Ryan's situation making him realize something, "Lozano doesn't know about me."

"What?" Felix raised an eyebrow.

Siris turned to him, "Lozano. He called you out. Locus and Felix. Two bounty hunters, but he never mentioned me or Ryan. We were never inside."

"What are you saying?" Ryan asked.

"I'm saying you have nothing to lose. I have a family, man."

"Are you kidding me?!" Felix sneered.

"You and Ortez fight just as well without me. And you have Ryan."

"No, forget that! Are you seriously trying to get out of this?!"

"I never wanted this!"

"You little-!" Felix raised his gun at Siris, who pointed his gun in return.

Locus got between them, "Felix! Siris is right. Lozano has no idea he exists. If he wasn't here, no one would question a thing."

"He's right," Ryan agreed, "We'll be fine."

There was a short pause before Felix sighed and lowered his gun. Ryan sighed in relief, glad to have avoided a catastrophe. He looked into the dark horizon. And now they wait.

 **XXX**

The plan was officially being set in motion. Ryan stood inside the building, listening as the cars rolled in. His job was basically to come out, guns blazing, once he heard explosions.

Eventually, the cars stopped. Men piled out, guns pointed. One man tossed a phone to Felix. The phone landed on the ground at his feet and began ringing.

Felix gave the man an incredulous look, "Really?"

Nevertheless, he picked up the phone and answered with a happy tone, "This is Felix!"

 _-Felix, thank you for saving me the trouble of hunting you down. I respect a man who chooses to look his death in the face.-_

"Well that's awfully presumptuous of you."

 _-Where is your partner?-_

"Oh, he's around. We wanted to give you one more chance to take your kid and let us go our seperate ways."

 _-I'm afraid you are not in a position to negotiate.-_

"Come on man, I have a gun to your son's head! Most people would call that a pretty hefty bargaining chip."

 _-I am not most people.-_

Felix sighed, "Yeah. I guess not... But you _were_ stupid enough to come here."

The phone hung up and there was tap on one of the car's windows, like a signal. Before one of the men can pull the trigger, however, he was shot in the head from a distance. Locus.

"Sniper!!" one guy yelled before he also got shot through the head.

"Move!" Locus called to Felix over the comm.

"Moving!" Felix replied, kicking Gabriel toward the cars.

"After him!!" a guy yelled.

Ruben's men chased after Felix, while a few stayed behind and one pulled the sack off of Gabriel's head to find that Gabriel had a live grenade in his mouth.

"Oh sh-!"

BOOM!!!

There was the signal. Ryan ran out, pulling out his pistol. As he shot down a few more men, there was another explosion by the quarry ledge. Ryan shot down one more guy, picking up his walkie talkie. And Ruben's voice came through.

 _-Ronaldo, what's happening?!-_

Ryan grinned as he answered, "Just sit tight Ruben."

After that, he regrouped with Siris (who had decided to stay) and the two of them took on the remnants of the men. As Siris was taking out the last two, Ryan walked over to the limo to find that the door was open. Before he could ponder for very long, a baseball bat knocked him to the ground. Ryan looked to see Ruben staring down at him, a look of recognition on his face.

"Well well," the mob boss smirked, "As I live and breathe... the Bellator son. It's been a long time since I spoke with your family. Where are they now? Oh yes... That's right. Their loyalties proved to be their downfall... much like yours are right now."

Ryan sneered and spit on Ruben's shoe, "Go to Hell."

Ruben sneered back and raised his bat, "You'll get there first."

But before Ruben could pummel him to death, Ruben was shot in the back multiple times. Ryan looked over to see the three mercenaries with their guns raised, smoke coming out of the barrels.

"What a douche," Felix grumbled.

The three walked over and Felix offered a hand. Ryan took it and was helped up.

"Thanks," Ryan said.

Siris walked over to Ruben, who was barely alive, "You shouldn't have brought family into it."

Ruben coughed and whispered, "But you did first..."

And with that, Ruben took his last breath. Siris was left to ponder the mob boss' last words as the sun began to come up.

"Nature is so cliche," Felix groaned.

"We're alive," Locus countered, "Quit complaining."

"Yeah, but it's part of my charm," Felix turned to Siris, "Hey, thanks for staying."

Siris smiled, "We're partners."

Felix nodded, "Partners."

Siris then turned to Ryan, "So how about it Ryan? Wanna join us?"

"No offense, Siris," Ryan let out a slight laugh, "But this mission was not a good first impression. I think I'll just take my portion and I'm done."

Siris nodded, slightly disappointed. This kid was pretty talented.

"We're still out our initial equipment cost," Locus cut in, "And then some."

"Yeah," Siris replied, "Probably would've been smart to turn him in."

"Well..." Felix knocked on the limo, "How much do you think we'd get for this?"

 **XXX**

 **And that concludes this three parter! I feel really proud of myself for this one. Next time... well, it's gonna be time... for a DEATH BATTLLLLLLEEEE!!! Till next time guys!**


	7. Chapter 6: Death Battle Meta vs Carolina

**Chapter 6: Meta v Carolina: Dawn of Awesome**

"Who would win in a fight?" Vic said, "Now, if that's not the most popular question asked around Project Freelancer, I don't know what is. Oh! No wait. It would probably be 'Hey, where do these AI keep coming from?' or 'Have you noticed we're looking pretty evil lately?'. Anyway, there's been plenty of action-packed punches and awesome karate matches over the years, but we never really saw a matchup between two of our heaviest hitters: Carolina and the Meta! Let's see if we can do something about that..."

In the distant future, there are two bases in the valley of Valhalla: a Red Base and a Blue Base. Currently at Red Base, two soldiers, in orange and maroon armor respectively, stood on the balcony of it.

"Hey," the orange one, Grif, said.

"Yeah?" the maroon one, Simmons, responded.

"You ever wonder..." Grif asked, "Who'd win in fight between Carolina and the Meta?"

It had been a week or so since the events of finding the Director of Project Freelancer. The Blood Gulch Crew had received a full pardon from the UNSC Oversight Subcommittee Chairman, Malcom Hargrove, and were free to stay in Valhalla. Then Carolina and Epsilon/Church ran off and no one has seen them since. But back to the matter at hand.

"Pfft, no," Simmons scoffed, "Only hopeless nerds on the Internet would care about that kind of crap."

"Yeah," Grif rebutted, "Why do you think I'm asking you? C'mon, picture it! It would be totally awesome!"

"Well, yeah, I guess," Simmons muttered, "Carolina would definitely win though."

"Bullcrap! You're just picking her because you're scared of girls. Meta's way scarier! He threw a Warthog at me!"

"Oh, I didn't realize scariness was the deciding factor in a fight to the freaking death, genius!!"

"Hey Reds!"

The two turned to see a blue armored soldier standing behind them. This was Caboose, the undisputed dumbest of all of the Blood Gulch Crew, rivaled only by Kaikana Grif, or Sister.

"What are you talking about?" Caboose asked.

"Oh, Grif was just asking what would happen if Carolina and Meta fought," Simmons answered.

"Fought who?"

"One another."

"Another who?"

"What?"

"What?"

There was a silence before Grif broke it, "Just ignore-"

"OHHhhhhhhh," Caboose realized, "You mean Death Battle."

"I mean," Simmons replied, confused, "Sure?"

"Oh!! Awesome!!" Caboose said happily, "Hang on!! I know some smart people that can help! Be right back!"

And Caboose ran off.

"Do you have any idea what he's talking about?" Simmons asked Grif.

"No," Grif replied, "But I do know you're still wrong."

"Wrong about what?"

They turned back and saw another soldier, this one in green armor with blue highlights. This was Agent Rhode Island, or Rhode, a former Freelancer who went AWOL for a while before meeting the Reds and Blues. But there's a whole book series you can read on that, so let's move on!

 **(A/N: Hooray for shameless cross-promotion!)**

"Oh, Rhode!" Simmons said, "You're pretty smart. Who would win in a fight? Carolina or Meta."

"Carolina," Rhode said without even hesitating, "She's the best of the best for a reason."

"Oh whatever!" Grif countered, "You're just saying that cause you like her."

Rhode immediately blushed under his helmet, "What?! N-no!"

"Okay, I'm back!" Caboose exclaimed, running back.

"That was fast," Grif said.

"Yep," Caboose continued, "I called Command and they sent two of their best scientist fighting people to help us!"

"Their best?" Simmons said condescendingly, "Really?"

 **XXX**

"And that's how you write your name in buckshot!"

Sure enough, two soldiers had arrived. One had a shotgun equipped and a rocket launcher on his back, a Southern accent, and had red armor with white highlights. The other had a rifle equipped, a know-it-all tone, and had blue armor with white highlights. The one in the red was the one who spoke.

"Alright, alright, enough screwing around," Know-It-All said, "We've got a job to do."

"Oh, fine!" Red responded.

The four soldiers looked at the new arrivals, three with raised eyebrows.

"I think you're forgetting that Command's best," Grif told Caboose, "Is just a step up from incompetent."

"They sent us Donut," Simmons said.

"I rest my case."

"Introducing!" Caboose announced, "Jiz and Broomstick-k-k-k-k...!!"

"It's Wiz and Boomstick," Know-It-All corrected.

"Wow," Grif said, "Those are the dumbest names I've heard."

"Franklin..." Simmons started.

"Delano..." Rhode continued.

"Donut," Simmons finished.

"And I retract my previous statement," Grif admitted.

"Yeah, well," Boomstick said, "You've got the dumbest face I've ever seen!"

"Uh, I thought you were supposed to be smart," Grif retorted, "I'm wearing a helmet."

"Oh my God!!" Caboose exclaimed, "Me too!!"

"So how does this work?" Rhode asked.

"Yeah," Simmons said, "Do you just draw names out of a hat, or cast some chicken bones around?"

"It's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win, a Death Battle!!" Wiz responded, rather dramatically.

"Why'd you say it like that?" Simmons asked.

"Just... Just watch," Boomstick said.

 **Death Battle**

 **The Meta**

(*Cues: Invader - Jim Johnston*)

Wiz: Before there was Red vs. Blue, there was Project Freelancer. The Freelancers were highly-trained soldiers with experimental weaponry and a mission so secret, not even they knew what it was.

 **Boomstick: Kind of stupid in hindsight, but these were true soldiers. The biggest and strongest of them all was Agent Maine.**

Wiz: Maine was the muscle of the team, relying on his brute strength, wrestling styles and unwavering ferocity to intimidate and crush his foes.

 **Boomstick: While he likes carrying a M-16 magnum pistol into battle, he really likes a certain alien grenade launcher he stole, the Type-25 Grenade Launcher, A.K.A the Brute Shot.**

 **XXX**

"I mean, seriously!" Boomstick said once he grabbed the Brute Shot, or in this case, the Grif Shot, "Look at this thing! It's got a blade and it can fire up to four rounds in three seconds! Let's test that, shall we?"

Then Boomstick pointed it at Grif, who yelled, "Hey!! That's mine!! Give it back!!"

Boomstick responded by shooting Grif with a few rounds. Grif flew straight into the wall, and slumped over.

"Man," Rhode marveled when he saw that Grif was still alive, "Durability must run in the family."

Boomstick sighed, "Well, in conclusion, I love this thing."

 **XXX**

 **Boomstick: So, the guy was an awesome fighter. Too bad Project Freelancer ended up turning him into a monster.**

Wiz: Long story short, the Director of Project Freelancer received a rare artificial intelligence for testing.

 **Boomstick: The Director imagined an army of super soldiers paired with A.Is but he can only get the one.**

Wiz: Being the resourceful scientist he was, the Director decided to torture the A.I, forcing it to separate it's raw emotion into multiple personalities to save itself. These personalities were captured as individual A.I fragments and paired with different freelancers. Trust me, that's science.

 **Boomstick: Maine was given Sigma, the A.I fragment representing ambition and creativity. And apparently, being creative means you're freaking evil!**

Wiz: Desperate to gather his fellow A.I fragments and reform it to form a perfect A.I, Sigma manipulated and brainwashed Maine, turning him into the murdering psychopath known as The Meta.

 **Boomstick: The Meta went on a rampage, betraying his fellow Freelancers and stealing their A.Is. It was like the Predator, but tougher, meaner and with tons of overpowered equipment.**

Wiz: His Domed Energy Shield creates a nigh impregnable force field.

 **Boomstick: It can block bullets, explosions and even shells from tanks.**

 **XXX**

"Allow us to demonstrate," Boomstick said, walking over to Grif.

Boomstick planted a device at Grif's feet, causing a bubble shield to surround Grif, "Here's Grif inside an energy shield!"

"Yeah, so?" Grif said skeptically.

"And here's a tank," Sarge said, as a tank appeared behind him and Caboose got in, "Operated by Caboose."

"And what could go wrong?" Caboose smiled.

Rhode began to back away, "Oh no... What hath science wrought?"

"Oh crap," Grif muttered as Caboose fired.

"Fire in the hole in one!" Caboose cheered.

Luckily for him though, the shield simply blocked the shell. Grif sighed in relief.

"Let's try that again, Blue buddy!" Boomstick told Caboose.

"Yes sir, Captain Deadpan!" Caboose obeyed.

Suddenly, Grif's shield deactivated, "W-wait! It ran out of-"

Grif cried out in pain as Caboose fired again, blasting Grif into a rock.

"Now," Boomstick explained, "If the shield had been there, Grif would've been fine."

"Wow!" Caboose exclaimed, "Science is fun."

"I've said it for years!" Simmons yelled.

 **XXX**

Wiz: As if that weren't enough, the Meta's active camouflage turns him practically invisible, his strength boost enhancement grants him... super strength, and most impressively, his temporal distortion device can slow time to a crawl.

 **Boomstick: He can turn invisible and stop time?! This guy sounds unstoppable!**

Wiz: Unfortunately, running so much equipment alongside so many AI fragments consumes a lot of power. But that hasn't stopped him from killing several Freelancers and stealing seven other AI's.

 **Boomstick: Not to mention, the dude can take a hit and keep on going. Even when that hit is taking NINE SHOTS POINT BLANK TO THE NECK!!! Man, and I thought _my_ voice made _my_ throat hurt! No wonder he never talks.**

Wiz: The only thing that could stop him was when a couple of idiots stabbed him in the chest, tied him to a car, and threw that car off a cliff into the freezing ocean.

 **Boomstick: But let's be fair, Wiz. That's a pretty hardcore way to go.**

Maine jumped on the hood of Rhee Seibel's car and stabbed him with the bayonet of his brute shot.

 **XXX**

"Wait a minute," Rhode said, "How do you know all of this?"

"Yeah, and where'd you get all that footage?" Grif asked, "Have you been spying on us?"

"Don't worry about it," Wiz answered.

 **XXX**

 **Agent Carolina**

Wiz: Leading the troops of Project Freelancer, Agent Carolina was supposedly the best of the best. She commanded the team through many successful missions, mastered several martial arts, and her top spot on the leaderboard seemed untouchable.

 **Boomstick: Until a mysterious stranger showed up out of the blue and ruined everything, but we'll get to that later. Carolina carries a wider variety of weapons than most Freelancers. Over the course of her career, she's favored the standard magnum pistol, dual plasma pistols, a grappling hook which can operate in outer space, a humbler stun device which is basically a shock baton, and a long range BR55 Battle Rifle.**

 **XXX**

"It's not as flashy as a shotgun," Boomstick said while holding one, "But it's got an impressive range of over three thousand feet."

Boomstick then turned around and shot down a retreating Grif, "Oww!! Why me?!"

"Seriously," Rhode asked, "What's your deal with Grif?"

"It just feels right!" Boomstick answered.

 **XXX**

Wiz: Like many other Freelancers, Carolina also possesses an A.I companion, several, actually, but for this matchup, we'll be focusing on the time she spent with Epsilon, the memory of the original Alpha A.I the Director fragmented. It's also known as Church. Like the other A.I fragments, Epsilon experiences time 205 times slower than a human being and therefore drastically speeds up Carolina's thoughts and reaction time.

 **Boomstick: Too bad he's kind of a jerk, and by kind of, I mean, that's basically his thing.**

 _Church: Guys, I'm a jerk._

 **Boomstick: In her post Freelancer career, Carolina made it her mission to track down as much experimental armor equipment as possible, and let me tell you, she did a very darn good job. Like Maine, she managed to acquire the Domed Energy Shield, but also picked up Adaptive Camouflage, a Speed Boost, and a Healing Unit.**

Wiz: Unfortunately, just one AI fragment isn't enough to run all this equipment at once. In battle, if Carolina's not careful, she can accidentally push Epsilon too far and essentially short circuit him.

 **Boomstick: Yeah, for a leader, she's kind of hot-headed and super competitive. Like when Agent Texas joined the Freelancer crew and started showing her up, Carolina started making a lot of stupid mistakes.**

Wiz: There's a lot going on here. Turns out, the Director was Carolina's father all along and Tex was actually the AI fragment memory of his deceased wife, meaning Carolina's greatest rival for her father's approval was actually her own mother.

 **XXX**

"Wait, what?!?!" Rhode, Grif, and Simmons exclaimed.

"You're making that up!" Grif accused.

"You guys didn't know that?" Wiz asked, "Where've you been? Pay attention!"

"Yeah, seriously guys," Caboose said, "It's super obvious."

Rhode's jaw hung open and he clutched his head, "So... many... pieces... They fit together so well! It all makes sense!!"

"Agreed," Simmons said, "Suddenly, everything makes a lot more sense."

"Jeez, dude," Grif agreed, "Remember when all we used to do was stand around and talk?"

"Yeah... Good times."

"Good times..."

And out of nowhere, Grif was knocked down by Boomstick holding the Grif-Shot, "Ow!"

Boomstick chuckled, "Still love this thing!"

 **XXX**

Wiz: Regardless, Carolina is one tough woman. She's defeated several other Freelancers, saved an entire planet from civil war, and once blocked the shock wave of a nuclear explosion.

 **Boomstick: She and Epsilon were even skilled enough to track down dear old Dad after he went into hiding just to help him kill himself. Geez, that got dark real fast.**

 _Santa: WHO ARE YOU?_

 _Carolina: I'm your true warrior._

 **XXX**

Wiz: Alright, the combatants are set! Let's end this debate once and for all!

 **Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yeah!**

 **XXX**

Somewhere inside of Mother of Invention, Carolina was seen training in the room, punching and kicking the targets. The Meta came in and saw her through the window. Carolina finished her training, breathing heavily.

 _Carolina: Time._

Church/Epsilon appeared.

 _Church: Oh, yeah, just point zero three milliseconds too slow. Looks like Rhode's picking the movie tonight._

 _Rhode: (over radio) Alright!_

 _Carolina: Ugh, can it not be another garbage action movie?_

 _Rhode: Oh come on, they're hilarious. Everyone talks in one-liners, the plot's non-existent. It's like the characters are just there to beat the crap out of each other._

An alarm suddenly went off.

 _Church: Uh oh._

 _Carolina: What is it?_

 _Church: Uhhh...I think were about to have company._

The Meta balled his fists up as Carolina pointed her pistol up to him.

 _Carolina: Maine?_

 _Church: Not exactly._

The Meta's AI fragments appeared and told Meta to kill Carolina and take her AI. The Meta took out his Brute Shot.

 _Rhode: OK, I don't know what happened, but if you win, you can totally pick the movie._

The Meta broke through the window.

 **Fight!**

The Meta thrust down the Brute Shot but Carolina rolled away and shot at him, but he blocked the bullets with the Brute Shot.

 _Church: Not working!_

 _Carolina: I can see that!_

The Meta used his Brute Shot to attack, but Carolina blocked the attacks, although the Meta kicked her away. He then attacked Carolina's head, but she blocked it and shot at the Meta's head, but the Meta countered and head-butted Carolina, throwing her pistol away. The Meta then tried to hit Carolina, but she dodged it and pulled out her Humbler Stun Device.

Both the Meta and Carolina charged at each other. The Meta tried to hit Carolina but she blocked it and stunned him multiple times, knocking his Brute Shot away and finishing it with an air kick. The Meta then sees his fallen Brute Shot and, instead of picking it up, he growled, punched his fists together, and walked towards Carolina as he tried to punch her many times, but Carolina dodged them as she stunned him and kicked him down.

 _Church: You sure you can't set that thing to kill?_

The Meta growled and punched the ground to get up and walked towards the Brute Shot to pick it up.

 _Carolina: Hold on!_

Carolina activated her Speed Boost and ran towards the Meta as he picked up his Brute Shot. Carolina punched him and started to run around on the walls. The Meta tried to shoot at Carolina, but he missed all the shots. Then Carolina dashed towards the Meta and punched him to the wall.

Carolina rolled and pulled her Battle Rifle and shot towards the Meta, but he activated Domed Energy Shield and went invisible.

 _Carolina: Church, where is he?_

 _Church: I'm on it, scanning... your left!_

The Meta appeared and slashed Carolina's Battle Rifle in half. She threw it away and posed in a fighting stance and both went into hand-to-hand combat. Carolina blocked the Meta's punch and started to punch him multiple times, but was barely doing any real damage.

The Meta blocked Carolina's last punch and punched her into the face. They both once again punch each other but the Meta punched and backflipped over Carolina's back and kicked her away. The Meta then stood and walked towards the fallen Carolina and he growled.

She tried to pick up her pistol, but the Meta grabbed her leg and smashed her down. She kicked him in the face, got up, walked towards him, and kicked and kneed him, but the Meta punched Carolina and did a Superman punch, knocking her away.

 _Carolina: Church, I need armor enhancements._

 _Church: Which one?_

 _Carolina: All of them!_

Church activated all of her equipment.

 _Church: Uhh that seems like a bad ide-_

Carolina lunged towards the Meta as Church screamed. But just as Carolina was about to punch, the Meta used Temporal Distortion to stop Carolina in time, electricity sparking on his armor.

 _Church: Huh?...Aw crap._

The Meta then pulled out his Brute Shot and knocked/slashed Carolina to the far wall. Carolina was horribly damaged, with a slash mark across her torso.

 _Church: Darn it! Okay, uh, focus on the healing unit, I got you. Carolina, can you hear me?_

The Meta reloaded his Brute Shot, but Carolina rolled, pulled out her pistol, and shot at the Meta, successfully landing the bullets. The Meta kneeled down in pain.

 _Church: We got him!_

But the Meta stood up, growled, and slowly walked towards them.

 _Church: Ok, seriously? What the crap?!_

Carolina reloaded her pistol and tried to shoot at the Meta, but he tossed his Brute Shot, slashing Carolina and sticking it into the wall. Then the Meta punched multiple times, pinned Carolina to the wall, and was about to finish her with one last punch.

 _Church: Hey, wait wait wait! Hold up!!_

The Meta growled.

 _Church: Uhh hey, so i know your about to pummel in her face and all but you also only talk in grunts, so I'm just gonna say this one line for you okay? Just this one time._

Carolina then pulled out the Meta's Brute Shot and pointed it at the Meta's head.

 _Church: Oh! son of a-!_

Carolina shot at the Meta's head point blank, blowing his head into pieces.

 **KO!**

 _Carolina: (over radio) Rhode?_

 _Rhode: Yeah?_

 _Carolina: No action movies._

 **XXX**

The group was shocked when they saw the end of the simulation they saw on screen.

"Holy crap!!" Grif exclaimed.

"I know!" Caboose agreed, "He did not even have a head under his helmet! He was ghost the whole time!!"

Rhode took a deep breath, "Oh man... That battle nearly gave me a heart attack..."

"I told you!" Simmons told Grif, "I told you!"

"Like Bruce Willis..." Caboose breathed.

"Bullcrap!" Grif insisted, "Meta's stronger! He should've won!!"

"Not true, Grif," Wiz stated, "As the Freelancer leaderboard proves, strength isn't everything."

 **XXX**

Wiz: Carolina's mastery of martial arts let her hold her own and her use of equipment allowed her to match and even counter The Meta's. He may have gained an upper hand with his Temporal Distortion, but Carolina's healing unit quickly repaired damage done during the attack.

 **Boomstick: Even though The Meta had all that powerful equipment, it drained his suit's energy way too fast. Carolina tried to use all of her equipment at once and failed. Luckily, she had Epsilon to change tactics and focus on recovery.**

Wiz: Which brings us to what is perhaps the most important factor of the fight: the relationship between Freelancer and artificial intelligence. The Meta was brainwashed and manipulated by eight different AI, effectively filling his head with an unintelligible mess of voices and commands. In contrast, Carolina and Epsilon work together as partners with a mutual trust, both capable of making judgment calls to make up for each other's weaknesses.

 **XXX**

"Whatever," Grif scoffed, "I still say it should've been the Meta."

"Says the guy who can't tell the difference between a car and a puma," Wiz retorted.

"I can tell the difference!" Grif snapped, "It was a matter of comparison!!"

"You're an inspiration to every Death Battle hater out there," Rhode muttered.

 **XXX**

 **Boomstick: The Meta just couldn't get _ahead_ of his competition.**

Wiz: The winner is Agent Carolina.

 **XXX**

"Hey!" a new, southern voice spoke.

The group turned to see Sarge, the leader of red team walk into the room, "What the heck are you boys doing in here? Fraternizing with two Blue Devils and..."

Sarge took notice of Wiz and Boomstick and raised his shotgun, "Who the heck are these dirtbags?"

"Whoa! Easy there, sir," Wiz said, "We're just here from Command."

"Hey! Nice shotgun!" Boomstick complimented, "I like the cut of your jib."

Sarge chuckled and lowered the gun, "Well, what do you know? Someone who has an eye for the finer things in life!"

"Oh, you better believe it!" Boomstick confirmed.

"You know, you remind me of someone. Almost like the son that I... never wanted."

"That's funny! You're like the Pappy I never had! When I was a kid, he ran out on us to join the army and never came back."

There was an awkward moment of silence and realization before Sarge spoke again, "Huh... Well... How about that? Gotta move along I guess, nothing to see here..."

And Sarge slowly backed away, humming to himself. Everyone, even Caboose, turned to stare at Boomstick, shocked.

"What a nice guy!" Boomstick grinned.

 **XXX**

 **And this Death Battle remains to be one of my favorite Death Battle episodes of all time! Oh, and I wrote in the style of epicvictory2025's "RWBY watches Death Battle". May that story rest in peace... oh wait. I revived it on Wattpad. Never mind! Next time, we get to check up on a Freelancer we haven't seen in a while. Till next time guys!**


	8. Chapter 7: Traveling with Tenn

**Chapter 7: Traveling with Tenn**

"Remember that Freelancer who teamed up with Rhode, Zona, and Penny back in the day?" Vic asked, "Agent Tennessee, or Tenn as he liked to be called. Wonder what happened to him after the events of Project Freelancer? No? Well too bad! You're getting it anyway!"

 **XXX**

"It's alright Tenn... It's not your fault..."

Tenn held up the head of an armored female soldier, his hands stained red from blood. He remembered being assigned to take out an outpost in the frozen wasteland of some random planet. It seemed pretty insensitive, considering it was no more than a day after Rhode, Zona, and Penny died, but he followed orders.

But he didn't expect this. Tenn had always wondered what happened to Agents Ohio, Iowa, and Idaho, but he didn't expect this at all. Unlike most of the Freelancers he had met, those three were ones he actually took a liking to, particularly Ohio. Sure, they were incompetent, but they were dedicated to the Project and it seemed very odd when he was told they dropped out.

And this is where they went. Left for dead on a stranded outpost on a random ice planet. And Tenn had been sent to take them out. He dealt with the Reds easily before turning his attention to the Blues. By the time he learned who they were, it was too late.

Here he was, cradling Ohio, silently begging that she would somehow survive. He just lost his team. He didn't want to lose her too, especially since he just learned what happened to her, Idaho, and Iowa. But, like the rest of his life, luck was not on his side.

"Vera..." he whimpered her real name, feeling really out of character, "You can't die... please... I'm so sorry..."

Vera reached up and wiped a tear off his face, "Crying, Tenn? That's new..."

She coughed roughly, "I never thought... the Project would... do something like this..."

There was more coughing and Tenn spoke, "Vera... just... get some rest... okay?"

"Sounds good..." Ohio looked up at him, her eyes drooping, "Goodbye... Tenn..."

Her eyes closed as she passed. Tenn's fists clenched. He would've yelled if he had the strength. He had lost too many people. And that's when the sobs stopped, and he frowned. He'd had enough. Project Freelancer was not to be trusted any longer, if he ever truly trusted them to begin with.

 **XXX**

He went back to the Pelican, promptly killed the pilot, threw the pilot's body out, and took off into the reaches of space. Setting the ship to autopilot, he took off his armor, found the life chip, and crushed it. There was no way he was being followed now. He sat down on the floor, contemplating. He thought back to when he first met the Triplets, how they were just goofy, yet endearing. They were lovable idiots. Well, less so with Ohio, but she stuck around with Idaho and Iowa because the three were friends.

Tenn smiled at the old memories, tears coming back to his eyes. Maybe that's why he got along with Rhode, Zona, and Penny. They filled the void left behind by the Triplets. But now all of them were gone.

And with that, Tenn laid on the floor, and cried himself to sleep.

 **XXX**

 **And that's what's pretty much been going on with Tenn. Don't worry, there's more with him in the next chapter. Till next time guys!**


	9. Chapter 8: Reunion on Chorus

**Chapter 8: Reunion on Chorus**

"And now," Vic said, "We see what's going on with Rhode's teammates right now! Can't really find a good intro for this one, so you're just gonna have to deal with it!"

 **XXX**

"Penny, you seriously need to snap out of it."

Zona was now officially worried for her best friend. Penny had barely spoken for a week, ever since they learned that he died. North. Zona knew that Penny had crushed on North for the longest time, but this was getting out of hand. Then again, she couldn't blame her. North wasn't just a crush. North was Penny's closest friend besides Zona herself.

But Zona had had enough. Penny needed to get her mind off of North and to the situation at hand. They were currently on a random planet and looking for supplies. But Zona was, admittedly, also looking for something to get her best friend's mind off of North. Then a newspaper hit her face.

Zona flailed her arms wildly, trying to get the paper off her face. When she finally did, she looked at the cover. And her eyes widened as she saw the title: "COLORFUL SPACE MARINES STOP CORRUPTION". But that wasn't it. While she didn't recognize a lot of the people on the picture, she recognized three: Chairman Malcolm Hargrove... as well as Agent Carolina and Agent Rhode Island.

Then she read the tag line, just to make sure. And her eyes widened once again when she saw that Agent Washington was also there, she just didn't recognize him at first because of the blue armor. She gave a very wide grin. This was what she was looking for.

 **XXX**

Somewhere else in the galaxy, Tenn found himself near the edge of colonized space, where he spotted a planet nearby. But he didn't even have a minute to ponder on whether or not to stop. Because he suddenly lost control of his Pelican.

Suddenly, the ship was being pulled by an invisible force towards the planet. Just before he blacked out from the stress of reentry, he spotted another Pelican come out of hyperspace. He made out two figures in the ship before passing out.

 **XXX**

"Hey, look!" Penny pointed out the other Pelican as it seemed to be crashing towards the planet, "Someone's in trouble!"

"Well, we're running low on fuel anyway," Zona shrugged, "Let's go see if they're alright. Probably not, but whatever."

Penny gave her partner a look, "Really?"

"Sorry," Zona raised her hands in surrender, "Don't blame me for wanting to see Rhode, Wash, and Carolina again as quickly as possible."

"Especially Wash, right?" Penny teased.

"Don't push your luck."

"Sorry."

So they sped towards the planet, approximately following the path of the other Pelican.

 **XXX**

Tenn woke up when he heard sparks coming from the back door of the ship. He shook off the pain and grabbed his sword. He looked and saw sparks coming in through the back door, like someone was cutting their way in. That's when Tenn knew that his crash was no accident. Someone wanted this to happen and did it. And now, that someone was cutting through the door to get to him.

But then the sparks stopped and there were sounds of a few gunshots and punching. A minute later, everything got quiet. Then there were a few knocks on the door and a somewhat familiar female voice called out to him.

"Hey!! Anyone in there?" the voice said.

Utterly confused, Tenn remained silent, sword at the ready.

"Well, if you are," the voice continued, "We're busting open the door, so you better move!"

Though still confused, Tenn stepped back into the cockpit, not wanting to be hit by the door. There were a few loud bangs, and dents appeared in the steel. Finally, the door gave way and fell. Tenn tensed up, ready to attack at the first sign of danger. Then he heard a second female voice start complaining.

"Did you really have to break down the door?" the second female said, "Couldn't we have just... you know, pull it out? And not run the risk of hurting anybody?"

"Oh come on," the first female replied, "I didn't hear anyone get squished, did you?"

"Well... no..."

"Then we're good."

Tenn raised an eyebrow at the familiar voices. Then he froze. No... it couldn't be them... They were dead! Weren't they? Then he spoke... sorta.

"Uh..." he said, causing the two girls to look at him.

That's when he saw the armor, and that confirmed it. Zona and Penny. He went wide-eyed as the two stared at him.

"Um..." Penny said, trying to break the awkward silence, "Hi?"

"Wait," Zona eyed Tenn's sword, "I recognize that RWBY looking sword... Tenn?!"

Tenn dropped the sword in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. He shook, relief overwhelming him.

"Zona... Penny..." he muttered.

Penny squealed and jumped on him, causing the man to go stumbling back. He gritted his teeth, remembering how hard Penny hugged.

"Tenn!!!" she picked him up and shook him, and suddenly he also remembered how annoying she was at times, but for the sake of reunions, he allowed it, "It's so good to see you!! The teams almost back together again!! Now we need to find Rhode and-"

"Wait wait wait!!" Tenn interrupted, finally managing to get out of Penny's grasp, "Rhode?! He's alive too?!"

"Uh yeah," Zona said as if it was obvious, and pulled out a newspaper and showing him the cover, "Read the news sometime. Wait, 'too'? You thought we were dead?"

"Well... yeah," Tenn scratched the back of his helmet, "I mean, that's what the Director told-"

"Since when did any of us, especially you, trust what the Director said?" Penny asked.

"...That's a good point," Tenn admitted.

"So..." Zona stated, putting the paper away and pointing to the two unconscious guys behind her, "Why were these guys after you?"

"Not a clue," Tenn answered, "But I can tell you that they somehow pulled my ship here down onto this planet. Afterwards, they tried to break in to do whatever they wanted with me."

"That's weird," Penny replied.

"Very," Tenn rubbed his chin in thought, "And if they're willing to bring a small ship like mine down, you can bet their not going to let one leave, considering there are most likely more."

"More?!" Zona groaned, "Great. A three-on-who-knows-how-many war. These two already gave us enough trouble."

"And reinforcements could be on the way," Tenn said, grabbing some gear, "Let's get to your ship and fly under the radar. Then we find a safe place to set up camp."

"Sounds good to me!" Penny said, skipping off back to the other ship, "Let's go!"

Tenn just smiled and shook his head as he and Zona followed, "Hey Zona?"

"Yeah?"

He raised his fist, "It's good to see you again."

Zona smiled and fist-bumped him, "Likewise. Now come on. Let's go."

 **XXX**

 **The ultimate BROTP. Till next time guys!**


	10. Epilogue: Thinking with Portals

**Epilogue: Thinking with Portals**

 **Wait, wha-Oh crap, not this again.**

 _Yep! You honestly thought I forgot about this?_

 **Would you be shocked if I said yes? But seriously Bill, get more creative with your titles.**

 _How about no? Instead, you can read how this turns out?_

 ***sigh* This is just absolutely insane.**

 **XXX**

 _During the events of the Season 13 Finale_

Rhode was set down on the floor of the Pelican by Carolina as they prepared to go help the Reds and Blues. He groaned, the bullet wounds in his torso starting to hurt worse. Carolina knelt down next to him.

"Don't worry," she said, though it sounded like she was speaking to herself as well, "You'll be okay. Dr. Grey's here and she'll fix you up."

Rhode only nodded in response, not really finding the strength to even utter a thank you. Carolina got up and prepared for the battle ahead. Rhode watched as Grey checked up on Private Matthews before turning to face Rhode. But that's when things got... odd.

Everything froze. Seriously, it was like time stopped all around him. That was only the first thing Rhode noticed. The second was that the pain from his wounds was gone. He looked down and noticed that there was no sign that he was injured. He got up and walked around, waving his hand in front of Grey's face. What the heck was going on here?

Suddenly, there was a strange noise behind him. Rhode turned to see a portal behind him, and there was a slight pull. Then the pull got stronger and stronger until Rhode lost his footing. And Rhode was dragged into the unknown.

 **XXX**

 **Yeah, this went about as well as I expected.**

 _Aren't you worried?_

 **Bill, this is the third time you've done this. I've pretty much come full circle.**

 _Eh, whatever. Till next time guys!_

 ** _TO BE CONTINUED IN_**

 ** _TYFORESTGAMES VS. BILL CIPHER_**


End file.
